Air cleaner



April ,14, 1936. HARRAH 2,037,164

AIR CLEANER Filed April 5, 1935 INVENTOR. CLFIYTON. C HHRRFIH mccml am ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 1-4, .1936

' AIR. enema Clayton G. Han-ah, Niles, Mich, assignor to National Standard Company, Niles, Mich,- a. corporation' of Michigan Application April 3, 1985, Serial No. 14,400

Y 6 Claims. (01. 183-73) This invention relates to air cleaners, for automobile engines and the like," and is illustrated as embodied in an air cleaner having a-zone of novel cleaner material in the pathof the air. The in- 5 venti'on has to do mainly with this novel material,

and its construction and arrangement. 4

v An object of the invention is to provide-an inexpensive cleaner material which is effective and light in weight and which does not substantially 1 restrict the flow of air.

One desirable type of material having these qualities is formed by making up a sheet of ex-,

panded metal and arranging it, for example by folding it upon itself in several thicknesses, to 15 provide a series of tortuous passages for the air. I prefer to arrange the folds with the openings through the sheet out of register, either by arranging the folds to secure that effect, or by making the series of openings at an acute angle to 20 the length of the sheet, instead of having them extend straight across. I prefer to roll or otherwise form the interconnected strands of flat material, which surround the openings, at an acute angle (e. g. about 30) to the planeof the sheet, so that when the sheet is folded as described above the air currents are caused to sweep across the surfaces of the strand as they pass through the described tortuous passages. 30 One' great advantage of this material is its resilient resistance to compression crosswise of the sheet, so that a cartridge or cleaner element formed from it, made a little wider than the space containing it in the cleaner body, holds itself 35 yieldingly and effectively sealed at its ends.

The above, and other objects and features of the invention, including various novel combinations of parts and desirable particular constructions, will be apparent from the following descrip- 40 tion of the illustrative embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing. in which:

' Figure 1- is-a view of an air cleaner having the above-described novel cleaner material, the left' half being in central vertical section and the right is half in side elevation;

Figure2 is'aplan viewoi asheet ofmetal asit is being slit, preparatory to the expanding operation;

l lgure3isapartialplanviewafterexpanding" 50 the-sheet;

mm 41s a sec ion through the sheet-as it is.

folded; Figure 5 is a plan view of the folded sheet,

'mowing the arrangement of the openings out of 65- registrywith each other;

Figure Gisanenlarged partial sectiononthe line 6-'-6 of Figure 5, showing the tortuous passages for the air;

Figure 7 is a plan view of a sheet in which the slits are made at an acuteangle to the length 5 of the sheet, so that most of the openings will be out of registry no matterhow the sheet is folded; and r Figure 8 is a plan view of the material of Figure 7 after it is expanded and folded. 10

The cleaner shown in Figure 1, except for the novel structure and arrangement of the cleaner material described below, is in a general way of standard construction. Itis built up of sheet metal stampings, arranged to quiet the noise of the air currents passing through it, as well as to clean the air. v An upper annular stamping I0 is formed with a series of air intake openings l2, behind which a zone H of the described novel cleaner material is arranged. It has a cover i6 held by means such as a bolt I 8 and wing-nut 20. --The cover It may have a sound-deadening layer 22 of felt or the like.

The chamber within the annular stamping i0 25 is subdivided by an annular I channel-section stamping 24 carrying a tubular air guide which terminates between two cooperating stampings 28 and 30 in line with a secondair guide 32 carried" by stamping 30 and which is coaxially arranged 30 within a larger guide 34 carried by lower stampings 3G and." 38. The bottom stamping 40 has a flange 42 for attachment to a conduit leading to the anintake of the carburetor.

The above described construction and arrangement of the parts of the air cleaner is well known, and is therefore not described in detail.

The cleaner material it is shown fanned of a sheet 44 of thin brass, copper, or the like, having slits 46 formed in transverse series therein, so

that by a'stretching operation perpendicular to the plane of the sheet it may be expanded to form series of openings 48 defined by interconnected flat strands 50. Asbest appears in Figure 6, I 4

prefer to roll orotherwise form the material so 5 that the flat strands 50, instead of being perpendicula'r to the plane of the sheet as in most expanded sheet metal, are at anacute angle (e. g.

' 30) thereto. 50

The sheet is thenfolded, as on lines 52 and 54 I and as; shown in Figure 4, this particular folding giving a three-ply material As shown in-Figures I 5 and 6, lines 52 and 54 are so located that the openings in the various folds are out of registry, 55

, the cover it and pushing the ring of cleaner ms.-

' scribed in detail, it is not my terial outwardly against the cylindrical well formed with the openings l2, between the upper and lower flat annular surfaces adjacent that" wall on the stampings l0 and 24. This ring, as made, is somewhat higher than the distance w tween the stampings 24 and I0, and is inserted under endwise (i. e. heightwlse) compression. Due to the inherent resilience of the expanded metal crosswise of the sheet, the ring l4 expands again heightwise after being placed in the cleaner, and yieldingly seals itself effectively against the stampings 24 and Ill. Even the constant Jarring during long use in an automobile never af-' fects or diminishes the effectiveness of this seal. The material is kept wet with oil or the like. in the manner usual in cleaners of this type, the oil on the inclined surfaces of the interconnected strands picking up the dirt from-the air passing tortuously through the novel cleaner material. 1

As shown in Figure 7, the slits I46 may be made t an acute angle to the length of the sheet I44, which case most of the openings 48'will'be out of registry in the diiferent folds, no matter how the sheet is folded.

While one illustrative embodiment has been deintention to limit the scope of the invention to that particular em- "bodiment, or otherwise than by the terms of the appended claims.

, "I claim:

1. Air cleaner material comprising a sheet or expanded metal air passing therethrough is directed in a tortuous path and is forced to sweep across the surf of said inclined strands. o

formed as. a network of interconnected strands surrounding openings in said 2. Anaircleanerhaving a zone of cleaner ma-.

terial in the path of the air comprising a sheet of expanded metal formed and arranged to provide a series of tortuous air passages therethrough, said sheet having series of alined openings arranged. at an acute angle to the center line of the sheet, and being folded upon itself along a line perpendicular to the center of the sheet.

3. An air cleaner comprising a body having an air inlet and an air outlet and cleaner material between said inlet and said outlet, said cleaner material comprising a sheet of expanded metal having openings therein and folded upon itself withthe end' portions thereof overlapp the center portion to provide at least three layers, the openings in successive layers being out of re ister.

w 4. An air cleaner comprising a body havin an air inlet and an air outlet and cleaner material between said inlet and said outlet, said cleaner material comprising a sheet of expanded metal having parallel series of alined openings therein at an angle tothe edge of the sheet and folded upon itself along parallel lines at acute angles to said series of openings with the end portions overlapping the center portion to provide at least three layers, the openings in successive layers being out of register.

5. An air cleaner comprising a casing having parts formed with upper and lower annular surfaces rigidly connected by a cylindrical wall formed with intake openings, annular ring of expanded metal inserted under resilient pressure heightwise ofsaid wall ovrjs'aid openings and resiliently conflned'between said'sup faces 6, An air cleaner comprising a casing having parts-formed with upper and lowerzannular surfacesrigidly connected by a cylindrical wall formed with intake openings, and an annular ring of a plurality of layers of expanded metal arranged with the openings in said layers out of registry and inserted under resilient. pressure heightwise of said wall over said openings and resiliently confined between said surfaces.

C. HAIR-RAH. 

